Are black cars unpopular?

[Subevo]

noticed inventory M3s in black not shifting too quickly.
In my opinion black and white cars should be the free colours .
I can’t believe I paid £1500 for pearl white on my model S and black was free.
Now pearl white is free and black is £1000 .

 

[Latibes]

From a visibility point of view at night, surely white is better?

 

[⚡️ELECTROMAN⚡️]

noticed inventory M3s in black not shifting too quickly.
In my opinion black and white cars should be the free colours .
I can’t believe I paid £1500 for pearl white on my model S and black was free.
Now pearl white is free and black is £1000 .

I think black is unpopular with the nerds that buy Teslas. The cool badass people like black cars.

 

[tess19]

White hides imperfect paint finishes compared with black. So a wise move rather than a nerd thing

 

[Andrew_SE23]

The cars in inventory were manufactured to predicted demand and the switch in the free colour from black to white probably changed the consumer demand in a manner not predicted.

Black was popular because it was free. Now it is expensive and also a poorer finish paint than the alternatives so the demand didn’t hold up as expected. I imagine that if it was “multi-coat, super pearlescent black” then it would be more popular.

 

[drmarkreid]

Yep - I've just had a black Nissan x-trail for the last 2.5 years and it showed up every scratch, dust, dent. I've gone for white this time in the M3 as I'm hoping it hides a bit more in that respect. I've previously had silver cars and they were pretty good at hiding scratches etc also.

 

[davidmc]

I think black is unpopular with the nerds that buy Teslas. The cool badass people like black cars.

Thanks

*Goes outside to pat his black panther*

 

[⚡️ELECTROMAN⚡️]

White hides imperfect paint finishes compared with black. So a wise move rather than a nerd thing

You're probably right. It was just one of my theories based on a very limited test sample.

 

[Jason71]

Paying £1000 for flat black feels wrong for starters.
Also it used to be the free colour, a lot of people ordered it for that reason, then White became free and no doubt quite a few people switched to that. It was a £1500 option before. So could there still be black cars in the system that were ordered before the switch and are now looking for homes. Or at least cars built in the expectation of orders based on the early colour profile of orders?

 

[Glan gluaisne]

Black definitely shows the dirt etc, but, IMHO, does look really nice when the car is clean. I owned a black BMW years ago, though, and the only snag with it was that with the dark tinted windows it came with (illegally dark now, I suspect) it looked like the sort of car a gangster would have.

I always thought having black as the standard colour originally was a bit odd, as from my limited experience of spraying cars years ago, black is the hardest colour to get a good finish with, as it shows every imperfection in the prep. I was never sure why black was the only colour that Ford Model T's were painted, for this reason, although they probably didn't have what we'd now call a decent paint finish.

The M3 I've ordered is black, simply because I think it's a colour that suits the car somehow. I've had a couple of white cars in the last 20 years or so, and the i3 I have at the moment is a dark silver/grey, and I've never been a fan of primary colours for cars, so black seemed the best choice. With the silver 19" wheels it reminds me a bit of that old 3 series BMW I owned years ago, but with a bit more class.

 

[thorfun]

Black is the best colour. Period!

I don’t like white cars at all. Actually don’t like bright coloured cars in general.

obviously just my opinion!

 

[MichaelP90DL]

I think black is unpopular with the nerds that buy Teslas. The cool badass people like black cars.

I never really believed I was cool and badass (I have owned fast, black cars) but maybe I'm mistaken.

 

[Generator]

I wanted black, because it was free and none of the option colours was anywhere near good enough to warrant the extra ££££

then came the price changes.

I’ve ordered white, because it was free and none of the option colours was anywhere near good enough to warrant the extra ££££.

it’s not that black or white is good or bad, but that the other colours are so bland they don’t seem worth the extra wait or the extra cash. If they did something with the understated sparkle of an Audi Navarra blue, or the visual zing of a Porsche Viper green, then perhaps I would reconsider, but the colour choices look to have come straight out of Austin Rovers 1986 Montego brochure...

 

[Ant M3]

Generally black is still a very popular colour across most manufacturers.
In my time I’ve probably owned around 5 black cars (my new MP3 will also be black), I’ve also owned blue (x2) , white (x3), grey (x3) and Silver (x2). IMO black has always looked the best, although it does show up dirt, dents, scratches and any imperfections much more than any other colour. When black cars are clean they look awesome !

 

[MrBadger]

Black is also the softest paint so may a bit more care than the other colours - which also need a bit of care as they are still quite soft.

 

[Stoner]

For me it was the lack of metallic paint. I would have definitely gone for black but paying an extra £1000 for solid paint didn't sit right, so gone for midnight silver instead!

 

[Rob R]

Black definitely shows the dirt etc, but, IMHO, does look really nice when the car is clean. I owned a black BMW years ago, though, and the only snag with it was that with the dark tinted windows it came with (illegally dark now, I suspect) it looked like the sort of car a gangster would have.

I always thought having black as the standard colour originally was a bit odd, as from my limited experience of spraying cars years ago, black is the hardest colour to get a good finish with, as it shows every imperfection in the prep. I was never sure why black was the only colour that Ford Model T's were painted, for this reason, although they probably didn't have what we'd now call a decent paint finish.

The M3 I've ordered is black, simply because I think it's a colour that suits the car somehow. I've had a couple of white cars in the last 20 years or so, and the i3 I have at the moment is a dark silver/grey, and I've never been a fan of primary colours for cars, so black seemed the best choice. With the silver 19" wheels it reminds me a bit of that old 3 series BMW I owned years ago, but with a bit more class.

I have a MSM car, which I like well enough, but I saw mine parked next to a blue Model 3 the other day, and I must admit the blue looked nicer. The black looks great when it's just back from a valet, but I worry how it will look on a wet winter day. Ditto the white on that, but at least it's free. Red will look good any time, but you pay for it (then pay for it again if any repairs needed).

 

[Keeper]

A car I previously owned and liked the most was a Mercedes E320 Avantgarde. It was bright metallic silver and had absolutely gorgeous heavily tinted blue glass all round (as standard). The tints were the reason I bought it. It was such a cool feel in the summer. I wish blue tints were more available now.

 

[JCremonini]

My Perf will be my 7th black car out of the 18 I have had so far.

 

[WannabeOwner]

the switch in the free colour from black to white probably changed the consumer demand in a manner not predicted

When I was at Heathrow last week virtually all the M3s in the handover warehouse, and the 60 or so parked outside waiting for number plates, were white.

I was really surprised ... also that someone spending £40-50K on a car wouldn't spend a few £hundred more for a colour option ... but maybe White is the preferred colour, rather than just being the cheaper-option.

Might also be that a "batch of white" ones had arrived, and was being handed over ...

The single Blue M3 there looked really nice ... might just have been that it was different though